Fishing Fallen Trees for BIG rewards
Many predatory fish species love downed trees. Why? Because they can hold lots of baitfish, they have plenty of shade and cover in which to hide and from which to ambush their prey and the water is a little cooler, which holds oxygen better and keeps the Ph at a more comfortable level.
Downed trees present a real challenge to the fisherman because it is difficult to get bait into where the fish are. Most fishermen only fish the outside edges because they are accessible.
Most fishermen struggle to catch fish in laydowns and presume that there are no fish there. Wrong! The big, lazy hawgs are usually tucked in right are often there but just won't bite what those fishermen are throwing at them. The reason they're not biting is very simple.
If you were to sit watching a likely looking row of trees, on any weekend in summer, you would see an endless procession of boats approaching them. Every group would take what is considered to be the 'right' approach.
Most will pitch or flip a tube jig, a jig and pig, a jig and craw, a worm or a lizard and work them slowly and methodically. In an effort to cover the tree more quickly, some will throw a spinnerbait or crankbait around the outside edges and hope to draw a fish out. Every so often one might hook into a fish but most don't.
Why is this? Have the fish gone? Have they all been caught and taken away? No! It's because everybody fishes trees the same way. A good spot is a good spot for fish to hold in, any day. But imagine the poor fish sitting under that tree seeing the same presentation of the same lures, day in, day out. BORING!!!! How many times will he be caught before he gets the idea that maybe he shouldn't bite those same old lures? Most of the fish know the UPC codes of most these baits off by heart!
Fish will even clue in to the fact that the nearby noise of a trolling motor spells DANGER. Starting to get the picture?
The key to catching fish from trees, and many other sorts of cover, for that matter, is to zig when everyone else is zagging. You have to get a bait into where the fish are, the fish will not come to you.
The very best trees and bushes are ones which have lead-in cover such as weeds or lily pads, so that the fish can move in and out unseen. Trees, which extend out into deeper water, give the fish an escape route. Trees with foliage on them, and/or lots of branches, will provide more cover for the baitfish to hide in, and will therefore, attract more predators. If you can find a spot with all of these elements together, you have probably found the mother lode. . Here's a way you can Up your Catch 2,3, 4 times or even more times as many fish.
I have three basic approaches when fishing trees and bushes, depending on how aggressive the fish are. Often, there are a number of fish there and they might be in different feeding modes. By employing these methods, you have more chance of catching more fish.
a) Active Fish- If the fish are reasonably active, I will take an unweighted
Black Mamba® Slick Willy® or Wild Willy®, if the water is clear
or a Ribbed Willy® if the water is dirty. Either way, it will be in a natural
colour as the fish are never far away and are likely to get a decent look at
it.
I will work around the outside of the tree first. Why? Because good trees will often hold several fish. If I hook a fish from underneath right away, I could easily spook the rest of the fish. If I work from the outside inwards and from the surface downwards, I stand to catch more of them
Most fishermen fishing the conventional lures I mentioned earlier get far too close to the trees in order to hit the spots they want to fish, more accurately and quietly. However, whenever they re-position the boat with their trolling motor, they often, inadvertently, send a blast of water right into the tree and spook the fish! No wonder they don't catch so many!
I fish trees with a 6' to 7' medium-heavy action spinning rod, with the reel's drag set tight, spooled with 20lb test PowerPro. This line is very thin and limp, casts well, has no stretch, is so sensitive you can feel everything and it takes a ton of abuse
I find that many monofilament lines just aren't up to the job; they're too stiff, too bulky, they stretch, they have a terrible memory (they go 'curly'), you can't feel anything and if they get the slightest of nicks, their strength drops dramatically. To top it off, I will usually use a premium quality 3/0 or 4/0 Offset shank worm hook.
Do not skimp on equipment, as this type of fishing is very tough on all of
it. Be sure to check your line very frequently for nicks and re-tie immediately
if you find any. Also, check every couple of casts that your hook is texposed
(skin-hooked), so that the point is out of harm's way.
I pull up and stop the big motor and approach very quietly from a distance away,
with the trolling motor on low and I keep it going almost constantly. A steady,
low purr seems to spook fish less than if you have the motor on a higher setting
and keep hitting it, in short bursts. I have honestly seen fishermen who should
know better, roaring into a row of trees, on plane, and then shuttin' her down
within 20 feet of the trees they are going to fish, sending a massive tidal
wave right into them. They then scratch their heads and wonder why they didn't
catch any fish from such a great looking spot. HELLOOOOOO!!!! Wake up and smell
the Java!
I keep well away from the tree and cast all around the outside, usually underarm, so that the bait lands gently. I let the bait settle for a second or two. Sometimes fish will sit just out from the edges and if you go straight into the key, you can blow the chance of catching them.
Then, I move in a little closer and cast the bait further in and let it settle for a moment. It pays to bang the bait off the branches as often as you can. For some reason, this rapid change of direction seems to trigger fish to bite.
The same skipping technique that works so well with docks is also deadly in fallen trees. While other baits will skip, to a point, we have never seen another bait which will skip with the ease or anywhere near as far as a Black Mamba® bait.
Using this method, you can get into spots right at the back where it is impossible to get any other lure that I know of. These spots often hold some real donkeys. Why? Because the other fishermen can't get a lure in front of them and therefore, the fish are rarely caught.
These baits can easily be skipped 30 to 40 feet! Yes, you read it right! They have enough weight that they will just skim the surface and get right to the back. Learning to skip the baits is surprisingly easy. Most anglers should be able to get pretty proficient within an hour or so. Getting any degree of consistent accuracy, takes a little longer. Getting all the lunkers you hook out from underneath those trees is another thing altogether! That's where the stout rod, tight drag and superline come in.
Should a hooked fish wrap itself around a branch, don't try to force it out. The best thing to do is open your bail arm and let the line go slack. That's right, let the pressure off the fish. If the fish thinks he's free and clear, he will usually swim out from the obstruction with a few seconds or so. When he does, close the bail arm and haul him out!
Some anglers would scoff at this approach saying that skipping the baits is noisy and will scare the fish. I have found the complete opposite to be true. One of the actions that cause predators to attack is the 'scared baitfish' action.
If you have spent any time on the water, you will have seen baitfish jumping out trying to escape bigger fish, which are chasing them. I firmly believe that skipping the baits mimics this action and gets the fish looking up by attracting their attention. When you see that monster Bass exploding on the bait, I think you'll agree with me.
b) Neutral Fish- One of two presentations seems to trigger the slightly less aggressive fish to bite:
- In shallow water, work an unweighted bait slowly and let it sink seductively,
to present a nice, easy target. In deeper water, use a small noseweight, light
enough that the bait will sink slowly down and 'snake through those branches.
Remember, nothing plummets in nature and if you add too much weight, your
bait will not look natural and will not get bitten.
- Hang a natural coloured Wild Willy of the back end of a small buzzbait (and when I say small, I mean small! An eighth ounce with about a 1" blade) and chuck that in there. Because no one ever throws buzzbaits into trees, it's a presentation that the fish don't see and it is often met with a reaction strike, which will nearly rip the rod right out of your hands! Casting them with underarm roll cast will get you into most spots.
c) Turned-off Fish- When the fish are really turned off, such as after a cold front passes through, they will tuck in tight to the cover and not feel like eating at all. That's when I call for an Atomic Wedgie®! No, I don't ask Bill to pull my underpants so far over my head that my eyes pop. I mean a Black Mamba® Atomic Wedgie®.
I use the exact same rod as before and just change the bait. Although, if I have established that the fish prefer eating the Atomic Wedgie® as opposed to the Slick Willy®, Ribbed Willy® or Wild Willy®, I will often change the hook to a 1/0 worm hook as there is less meat to this lure.
The Atomic Wedgie® has one very neat, fish-catching attribute. If you pop the bait on a slack line, it will go right back to where it started. If you pop it again and again, it will stay within inches of the starting point and flutter back down very seductively. So what? You might say.
Again, imagine Mr. Bass sitting in that tree, watching the endless procession of lures that plummet to the bottom and get hopped back out towards that funny shaped thing, floating 10 feet away, with a whirring propeller.
Using the Atomic Wedgie®, you only need to cast or skip it in once and you can repeatedly wave it right in the fish's face. It is the fishy equivalent of having a juicy cheeseburger waved right under your nose. Very few people are going to resist the temptation to have just one little bite. Neither are the fish.
We have loads of underwater footage where we have filmed fish, which are obviously not interested in feeding. They sorta take a look at the bait and start to swim away.
Suddenly, the bait pops up into their line of sight, they move in just a little to take a closer look, and then the bait swims right back into the fish's face. The fish will just open his mouth, as a reaction, and eat the bait 9 times out of 10, without thinking. He has certainly never seen an action like that before! It's an action any fish finds hard to turn down because the bait looks like such an easy target.
The other thing the Atomic Wedgie® will do, is irritate fish into biting. But who cares why they bit it, as long as they bite it?
If you are fishing in water 1 to 5 feet deep, use the Atomic Wedgie® without weight. If you are fishing deeper, use the lightest weight you can get away with, preferably and 1/8 oz and certainly no heavier than a 1/4 oz. It is the slow, tantalizing, gliding action of the Atomic Wedgie® which drives fish nuts and you don't want to kill that action by putting too much weight on.
Try fishing trees the Black Mamba® way and you'll be hooked too.